


pack up your troubles

by mollivanders



Category: The Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, On the Run, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-19
Updated: 2012-08-19
Packaged: 2017-11-12 12:03:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/490755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mollivanders/pseuds/mollivanders
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's his ride, after all, so he doesn't think twice when she pulls up outside the station and tells him to get in. He pulls the door shut with a click and they're off to the races.</p>
            </blockquote>





	pack up your troubles

**Author's Note:**

> **Title: pack up your troubles**  
>  Fandom: The Killing  
> Rating: PG-13  
> Characters: Linden/Holder  
> Author's Note: Word Count - 910. Written as part of a meme with _Vegas wedding_ as the prompt. Post-series.  
>  Disclaimer: I own nothing.

She's his ride, after all, so he doesn't think twice when she pulls up outside the station and tells him to get in. He pulls the door shut with a click and they're off to the races.

"Where you been?" he asks casually, like he hasn't not heard from her in weeks, months. She looks different, the first tinges of spring blooming around her face. She looks less haunted than the last time he saw her, the familiar determination in the set of her jaw.

"Jack chose Chicago," she says and he can feel the waves of hurt underlying that simple sentence.

(Holder knows.)

"So where we going?" he asks, because if she's going to be strong, he's not going to be the one to break her. "Vegas," she says and he nods. "I think I left my pocket change at home," he says and she smiles at him in the rear view mirror.

"You're not going to need it," she promises. She promises, so he believes her.

+

Vegas is dirty and familiar and as she drives them down the main strip he can't but wonder why she brought him here of all places. It's full of temptation and he wouldn't have to look that far, one way or another, but he can't hide the surprise on his face when she pulls into the Bellagio parking lot and a valet takes her keys.

"You win the lottery or something?" he asks, takes note of her nice clothes and his heart squeezes. Sonoma - maybe - 

"Not yet," she tells him, and he relaxes. She's just having a breakdown, that's it, and that's why he's here.

Well, he knows this role.

+

He follows her lead, avoids the casinos and the booze halls. She drags him to Cirque Soleil and Phantom of the Opera and half a dozen other performances he can't remember the name of before she asks him, very casually, to marry her.

The worst part is the question doesn't sound half-ludicrous and she's looking at him, waiting for an answer, but it's _Linden_ so he has to ask.

"Is this part of some investigation you've got going?" he says and Linden shakes her head, doesn't look away. "Then what the hell are we doing?" he asks and Linden shrugs. "Yes or no, Holder?"

There are a thousand reasons to say no, a thousand reasons to drag her ass to the closest loony bin, so instead Holder pulls out a cigarette and lights it, gets one drag in before she steals it from him.

"Okay, yeah," he says. "Let's get married."

+

Holder marries Linden at the eleventh hour, by an Elvis impersonator who reminds him of Stan Larsen and the first time he kisses her is when the script tells him to. She's tiny under his hands and he's shaking but damnit, he was lost without her. He cups her face in his hands and she slips her arms around his neck and he kisses her softly, tentatively and it's only when they're outside - alone - that he realizes she's crying.

"Linden," he asks, really scared now, because he's never seen her cry, all hard edges and straight line vision but it's been months since the Larsen girl died and Linden's melting like winter.

"I lost him," she says in a shaky voice and doesn't look at him. Stares out at the street full of cars and Holder's pretty sure they're breathing in sewage right now but this is it. This is why. "The judge took him away and Jack didn't fight it and he was laughing with his dad when I left."

"I was all you had left, huh?" he asks and another man might have been hurt, offended, but that one month half a lifetime ago undid all his switches.

"Something like that," she says, looking at him and he pulls her into a hug until he feels her breathing even against him. "Okay then," he tells her. Her arms tighten around him and when she finally pulls away he holds out his hand. "Keys," he says. "I'm buying you dinner." The look she gives him undoes the last two days but she drops them in his palm and starts walking towards the car. "Not too slow," she calls back and Holder shakes his head, catches up with her. "Whatever, Linden."

+

She falls asleep between Vegas and Seattle, their fast food dinner wrappings at her feet, when Holder makes the call. The new chief isn't happy about it, bringing the troublesome Linden back, but Holder's got dirt - he's not been doing nothing for half a year - and by the time they cross the Washington state line Linden's got a job again in the office next to his.

"Afraid I'm going to run off?" she asks when he tells her. "So long as you take me with you," he says, only half-joking and this time, when she kisses him, it's not soft and she's not shaking and Holder swears he's going to write a thank you letter to the Elvis impersonator.

Later, though.

_Finis_


End file.
